Valpre

About

True quality takes time to craft. Sometimes as long as 15 years…
So take a moment and savour it

Starting out as gentle rainfall, every drop of Valpré spring water spends up to 15 years filtering naturally through the ground.

On its long journey through the earth, our spring water moves through different soil and rock layers that imbue it with the minerals that are responsible for its unique composition. To preserve these extraordinary properties, our bottling process is designed to ensure that the water is bottled as close as possible to how we found it.

Valpré is distinguished by its naturally sweet taste and is available in 500ml PET Still, 500ml PET Sparkling, 1L PET Sparkling and 1.5l PET Still bottles. A registered product of the Coca-Cola Company, it is regularly and independently tested to maintain its high quality at all times.

This unrelenting commitment to quality is what has made Valpré South Africa's most successful bottled water brand.

The Unexpected Truth

We recently opened the doors of our Heidelberg bottling plant to a number of environmental journalists and industry specialists. They were invited to investigate the plant and discover whether the brand’s claims of sustainability were authentic and whether we were as sustainable, responsible and authentic as we believe we are. The result is the documentary The Unexpected Truth. Watch the videos and judge for yourself.

PlantBottle™

The Coca-Cola Company has introduced an innovative new packaging solution called the PlantBottle™. By advancing recyclability and renewability while still maintaining quality, it enhances the economic performance of Valpré spring water. Up to 30 per cent of the PlantBottle™ is made from plant-based materials such as sugar cane and molasses, which makes it 100 per cent recyclable.

Environmental journalist Michelle Garforth-Venter visited our bottling plant to investigate this new innovation. Watch the first part of The Unexpected Truth to see what she uncovered.

Green Architecture

The Valpré plant in Heidelberg is the cleanest, greenest plant in Africa. It’s been designed to reduce everything from visual pollution to the amount of electricity it uses. No water is wasted, and even the factory’s carpets are made from recycled plastic.

Watch the second part of The Unexpected Truth to see what green architect Kim Fairbairn discovered during his investigation of our bottling plant in Heidelberg.

Recycling Initiatives

We always aim to act responsibility when it comes to the issue of recycling. That’s why our bottles are 100 per cent recyclable and we have a number of initiatives in place to recycle our bottles once used. We also fund recycling in South Africa through resin purchases and financial grants. Our partnership with PETCO, a South African recycling company, allows us to recycle as many as 37 per cent of PET bottles in South Africa.

Watch the third part of The Unexpected Truth to see what environmental journalist Michelle Garforth-Venter discovered in her investigation of our recycling initiatives.

Empowerment and Sustainability

Sustainability and empowerment are key drivers at our Heidelberg bottling plant. We mapped the underground aquifer to determine exactly how much water it can sustainably supply and only extract six per cent of the annual rainfall. In support of the Coca-Cola Company’s 5 by 20 programme, which aims to empower 5 million women by 2020, we issued a call for women to apply at the Heidelberg plant, and today it is run by a team of talented black female engineers.

Watch the fourth part of The Unexpected Truth to see what journalist Tim Modise has to say about these initiatives.

Quality

Valpré is committed to always providing its consumers with the highest quality still and sparkling bottled water. In fact, this quality is such a defining feature that Valpré has achieved international acclaim for it, having recently been awarded a Monde Gold Selection Award for Outstanding Quality in the Spring Water category.

But it's not just the purity and unique taste of the water that make it so distinctive; Valpré also undertakes rigorous hourly tests on still and sparkling bottled water samples to detect any impurities or irregularities in the water.

News

The highest of standards, each step of the way

It only makes sense that our water is treated with the care such exceptional quality deserves. That is why we have built a state-of-the-art bottling plant in Heidelberg. One of the greenest plants in Africa, it will also help us to ensure that there will be natural spring water for generations to come.

The plant was officially opened on 7 July 2011 by Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa. It is designed expressly to reduce our carbon footprint and leave nature untouched by our presence. To achieve this, the plant takes full advantage of solar power and natural lighting in order to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel-based electricity.

As always, we treasure the delicate balance of nature and never bottle more than six per cent of what the aquifers are able to produce. By carefully drawing the water we need, we reduce our impact on the aquifer system so we can continue to bottle only the highest quality spring water.

Excellence has its rewards

What are form and function without beauty? Our Heidelberg bottling plant is in the process of receiving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) approval, an internationally recognised benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings, while the administrative block has already been presented with a LEED Gold award.

And while our new plant receives international acclaim, we’re even prouder that our most precious resource, our water, has won a gold medal at the 2011 International Monde Selection Quality Awards in the spring water section.

Valpré is a founding member of the South African National Bottled Water Association (SANBWA) and is also South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) approved. This means that our product and our plants have passed the stringent tests and audits by these two industry associations.

Valpré is also endorsed by the South African Whisky Academy as their spring water of choice. Its high quality and low mineral content make it ideal to enjoy with and open up the myriad flavours in whisky.

It’s easy to recognise excellence – just look for Valpré.

Plantbottle™

Same benefits.
Earth aware.

The only plastic bottle up to 30% made from plants that is 100% recyclable and able to meet the high quality standards of The Coca-Cola Company.

Same performance.
Less petroleum.

PlantBottle™ packaging looks, functions and recycles just like traditional PET plastic, but does so with a lighter footprint on the planet and its scarce resources.

Key facts:

Made from PET, consisting of up to 30 per cent plant materials

The first plastic bottle with renewable content that can be recycled in the existing PET recycling stream

Has the same functionality and shelf life as current PET bottles

100 per cent recyclable, but not biodegradable

Made from natural sugars found in plants, such as sugar cane

Reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 20 per cent compared to petroleum-based PET bottles